“Hellion Earth”

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Via Pitchfork

In 2011, Fuck Buttons' Benjamin John Power unveiled a solo project, Blanck Mass, as well as an accompanying self-titled album that refined the harsh, cresting drones of his main gig into something smoother and more naturalistic (albeit as naturalistic as you could get from a tangle of dewy electronic noise). This year, Power followed up that solid effort with an intriguing 12", "White Math" b/w "Polymorph", that found him taking his penchant for noise and running towards the direction of proper dance music (as fellow drone overlord and former Yellow Swans member Pete Swanson's spent the last year and a half doing, via his own excellent releases Man With Potential and Pro Style).

And that's where we're at with "Hellion Earth", a new song from Blanck Mass given away today that doesn't seem to be attached to any particular release. If "White Math" b/w "Polymorph" represented the sugary raw materials of Power's new direction, then "Hellion Earth" is those materials in pure crystal form, glittering and gleaming with melodic zest added to every tidal wave of static and sonic busyness. It's an intriguing, massively enjoyable ten-minute odyssey, and it makes the wait for more new material from Blanck Mass (and, Fuck Buttons, too) a little easier for the time being.